

Nashville shooting: Investigators find suicide note, weapons, and ammunition in shooter's possession

Officers investigating last week's school shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville discovered a suicide note and weapons belonging to Audrey Hale at the shooter's home on Monday.
Hale, 28, who identified as transgender, entered the Covenant School on March 27 with two assault-style weapons and a handgun, fatally shooting three students and three adult staff members.
NASHVILLE SHOOTING: SHOOTER PLANNED MURDERS FOR 'A PERIOD OF MONTHS'
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department released a list of 47 items it found that belonged to Hale, including several journals, a shotgun, cellphones, and laptops, as well as a suicide note, NBC News reported. The details of the note are unknown.
A photo of the Covenant School was also among the items. Hale attended the school for third and fourth grade.
Police said in an investigation update on Monday that the collective writings, including a manifesto, showed Hale planned the massacre for a "period of months." Investigators determined prior to Monday that Hale considered other schools for attacks as well but chose Covenant School for its lack of security.
Officials said Hale had seven legally purchased weapons from five local stores and later sold one of them. Three of the weapons were used in the mass shooting.
Nashville police said they are still investigating the shooting to determine Hale's motive. While investigators could not uncover any evidence suggesting there were problems between Hale and the school, Police Chief John Drake stated the shooter may have had a sense of "resentment" toward the school.
Hale fired 152 rounds — 126 5.56 rifle rounds and 26 9 mm rounds — from the time Hale shot through a locked door into the school until Hale was killed by two of the five responding officers, investigators determined. Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo fatally shot Hale 14 minutes after the initial 911 call came through.
The six victims were students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, Head of School Katherine Koonce, 60, and custodian Mike Hill, 61.
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The attack on the Covenant School marked 17 school shootings in the United States in 2023 and 376 school shootings since the Columbine High School shooting in April 1999.
The Covenant School shooting is the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. More than 20 people, including 19 students and two teachers, were killed in that attack.